{"id":2039037,"date":"2026-07-11T22:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2039037"},"modified":"2026-07-11T22:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:19:16","slug":"seixas-to-discover-a-new-universe-sunday-as-rider-hits-ninth-day-of-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2039037","title":{"rendered":"Seixas \u2018To Discover a New Universe\u2019 Sunday as Rider Hits Ninth Day of Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Starting Sunday, Paul Seixas is going where he\u2019s never gone before.<\/p>\n
The 19 year old is already riding his first Tour de France and, indeed, the first grand tour of his career.<\/p>\n
But when he lines out on Sunday he\u2019ll be forging new ground: specifically, he\u2019s never raced more than eight days in a row before.<\/p>\n
That means a massive voyage of discovery and also a degree of risk that things could go pear shaped.<\/p>\n
The common wisdom in pro cycling is that young riders make their grand tour debuts in either the Giro d\u2019Italia or Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. Tadej Poga\u010dar did that. Jonas Vingegaard did that. Remco Evenepoel did that.<\/p>\n
In fact, go through the list those in the top ten and everyone other rider followed this route.<\/p>\n
Not Seixas, which highlights the risk that he is taking.<\/p>\n
Factor in his age\u2014he\u2019s the youngest rider to ride the Tour in 89 years\u2014and you can understand how things could unravel.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s clear that we\u2019re entering into a new situation,\u201d Decathlon CGA CGM directeur sportif Julien Jurdie admitted, speaking to Cyclism\u2019Actu. \u201cIt\u2019s clear that we\u2019re doing the ninth stage tomorrow, and he has never done more stages during his career, his young career.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there you have it. We are going to discover a new universe with him. We\u2019re going to help him so that everything goes well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is clear that tomorrow, we will have to be careful because\u2026tomorrow evening we will talk again and maybe nothing will have happened on this stage. But I prefer to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s nothing very normal with Paul Seixas\u2019<\/h2>\nPaul Seixas raced over the Col du Tourmalet this week (Photo: Jean-Christophe Chartre \/ Hans Lucas via AFP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Seixas has long been seen as a huge talent but he has jumped up a level this year, taking seven wins including three stages and the GC at the Itzulia Basque Country, as well as Fl\u00e8che Wallonne.<\/p>\n
Equally importantly, he finished second to Poga\u010dar in Strade Bianche and was the only one not dropped by the Slovenian when he went all out on the C\u00f4te de la Redoute in Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
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The duo remained together for another 21 kilometers, Seixas trading pulls with a rider eight years his senior. He put in such a good performance that Poga\u010dar began to believe the race would come down to a sprint.<\/p>\n
And while he was eventually dropped on the C\u00f4te de la Roche-aux-Faucons, Seixas\u2019 performance and his runner-up slot underlined his talent once again.<\/p>\n
Riding his first Tour so early is a huge gamble but one Seixas wanted to take. He\u2019s now sixth overall, 3:55 behind Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
So how does Jurdie weigh up his performance after eight stages? Is he surprised, or is what he has done normal?<\/p>\n
\u201cNormal? I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the word because at 19 years old he was ninth [in Barcelona], was fifth on a Pyrenean stage, and was also fourth in a stage at the start of the Tour,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it, there\u2019s nothing very normal with Paul Seixas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018The lights are green\u2019<\/h2>\nA spectator holds a placard urging Paul Seixas on in what is his first Tour (Photo: Anne-Christine Poujoulat \/ AFP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Stage 9 of the Tour is a tough one. It\u2019s not as difficult as Thursday\u2019s stage to Gavarnie-G\u00e8dre, which crossed the Tourmalet and featured an uphill finish, but it will take a lot out of the riders.<\/p>\n
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It has officially four climbs, including the category two Suc au May, but outside those it is still continuously up and down.<\/p>\n
It racks up a total of 3300 vertical meters and will be extremely draining, despite the surprise decision Saturday to shorten it.<\/p>\n
Seixas and his team will hope that his first time racing over eight days won\u2019t start to weigh heavily on him, that he will fare well and that Monday\u2019s rest day will enable him to recharge and be ready for week two.<\/p>\n
This is, as stated, a voyage of discovery. Even if media speculation that he might challenge Poga\u010dar for the win has died down, he will keep pushing hard and will hope for the best possible GC result.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s feeling good, the sensations are good,\u201d Jurdie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll do a proper assessment after this 9th stage, but the recovery is good. So for now, all the lights are green.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That remains the case even if Seixas continues to wear bandages on both his arms, a result of his big crash and withdrawal from the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes.<\/p>\n
That is, Jurdie said, just a precautionary measure to ensure that the wounds continue to heal and that perspiration doesn\u2019t have a negative effect.<\/p>\n
As for the weather conditions, which could potentially get even hotter, Jurdie said the team will continue working well to adapt to the temperatures.<\/p>\n
For now, though, he has no major concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaul is doing very well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284877772.jpg”] Shane Stokes Updated July 11, 2026 04:30PM Starting Sunday, Paul Seixas is going where he\u2019s never gone before. The 19 year old is already riding his first Tour de France and, indeed, the first grand tour of his career. But when he lines out on Sunday he\u2019ll be forging new ground: specifically, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2039037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2039037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2039037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2039037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2039037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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